Bookish Things

Anna | She/they | ACOTAR | SJM | Crave | Rhysand defense squad |

[athingofvikings]

Years and years ago, I read a book on cryptography that I picked up because it looked interesting--and it was!

But there was a side anecdote in there that stayed with me for more general purposes.

The author was describing a cryptography class that they had taken back in college where the professor was demonstrating the process of "reversibility", which is a principle that most codes depend on. Specifically, it should be easy to encode, and very hard to decode without the key--it is hard to reverse the process.

So he had an example code that he used for his class to demonstrate this, a variation on the Book Code, where the encoded text would be a series of phone numbers.

The key to the code was that phone books are sorted alphabetically, so you could encode the text easily--picking phone numbers from the appropriate alphabetical sections to use ahead of time would be easy. But since phone books were sorted alphabetically, not numerically, it would be nearly impossible to reverse the code without exhaustively searching the phone book for each string of numbers and seeing what name it was tied to.

Nowadays, defeating this would be child's play, given computerized databases, but back in the 80s and 90s, this would have been a good code... at least, until one of the students raised their hand and asked, "Why not just call the phone numbers and ask who lives there?"

The professor apparently was dumbfounded.

He had never considered that question. As a result, his cipher, which seemed to be nearly unbreakable to him, had such an obvious flaw, because he was the sort of person who could never coldcall someone to ask that sort of thing!

In the crypto book, the author went on to use this story as an example of why security systems should not be tested by the designer (because of course the security system is ready for everything they thought of, by definition), but for me, as a writer, it stuck with me for a different reason.

It's worth talking out your story plot with other people just to see if there's a "Why not just call the phone numbers?" obvious plot hole that you've missed, because of your singular perspective as a person. Especially if you're writing the sort of plot where you have people trying to outsmart each other.

[moonbeam-b0o-deactivated2024083]

Rhysand when Feyre and soup are in the same room

[sageofthegalaxy]

Someone explain it to Cassian, please.

[yabai-korra]

Rhysand's "problematic" behavior towards Feyre in ACOTAR

I have just finished reading A Court of Thorns and Roses. I have been in book fandom for a while so I've heard criticism towards this particular relationship and author, so here I am debunking/explaining why that criticism isn't justified. Not saying you can't dislike the book obviously, but a lot of bad things said about this came from a place of ignorance and not reading in between the lines nor with full attention.

Now, if you're a passionate anti with no chance for changing your opinion, please do turn around and look at posts about something you enjoy :) Let's all stay in line and be civil, I am merely going to explain something a lot of people seemed to have missed in this book.

Words in blue are quotes.

First of all, lemme say that I totally understand why someone would think this book is "problematic", it seemed that way to me as well at first but when you read carefully and in between the lines it's not problematic, dark yes, hence why it's new adult and not young adult, but not problematic.

Rhys definitely does bad things to Feyre and comes off as an asshole at first, which is why I hated him, but if you approach it more carefully you'll see that there is a lot more beneath the surface.

Feyre has two moods while Under the Mountain - depressed and angry at Rhys. Rhys, as he states himself, is on Feyre's side, because he, much like everyone, hates Amarantha and wants Feyre to succeed in freeing them.

Something I haven't noticed immediately is how Feyre is sinking deeper and deeper into depression and some dark corner of her mind, and every time she bounces back is with Rhysand. He makes her angry, because that is the only emotion he is capable to provoke in her and the only one that would keep her from falling apart. Being lovey-dovey or friendly or sad, as we have seen Tam and Lucian were with her, didn't help, it just made her more depressed.

By keeping her angry he is keeping her alive: "It took me a long while to realize that Rhysand, whether he knew it or not, had effectively kept me from shattering completely."

To be fair I gotta add that it wasn't his only way of keeping her alive; he healed her arm, did one of the tasks for her to keep her from being roasted, and led her to the correct answer on her second trial.

Also, something really important, he forcefully kissed her. When I read that I was furious and wanted to kick him honestly and I am not excusing him whatsoever, and imo he could have been a little more gentle, but he did that in order for Amarantha to believe it was him who kissed her, not Tamlin who was kissing her before. If Amarantha saw Feyre and Tamlin together, which is something Rhys interrupted, she would have gone wild because she is obsessed with Tamlin. Not only did Rhys save both of them (and Lucien, for that matter, because Amarantha kept pushing him in Tamlin's place) through his shady method I in no way approve of, immediately after his mood shifts. He knows Amarantha for 50 years, and he knew he'd take the punishment for kissing Feyre, which was, sadly the thing Amarantha is doing to him all the time, r*pe, which was obviously worse than usual because he was in a very mental state afterward: His tunic was unbuttoned at the top, and he ran a hand through his blue-black hair before he wordlessly slumped against the wall across from me and slid to the floor. “What do you want?” I demanded. “A moment of peace and quiet,” he snapped, rubbing his temples. I paused. “From what?” He massaged his pale skin, making the corners of his eyes go up and down, out and in. He sighed. “From this mess.” I sat up farther on my pallet of hay. I’d never seen him so candid. “That damned bitch is running me ragged,” he went on, and dropped his hands from his temples to lean his head against the wall. “You hate me. Imagine how you’d feel if I made you serve in my bedroom. I’m High Lord of the Night Court—not her harlot.”

Again, I am not excusing his actions because it was not okay, but he took r*pe as a punishment for the forcful kiss so Feyre and Tamlin wouldn't get something worse, which was probably death. He, once again, did a bad thing to prevent a horrible thing, but this time suffered himself as well. I personally, as a reader, can get over that, if you can't that's totally fine.

"If he hadn’t been kissing me, if he hadn’t shown up and interrupted us, I would have gone out into that throne room covered in smudged paint. And everyone—especially Amarantha—would have known what I’d been up to. It wouldn’t have taken much to figure out whom I’d been with, especially not once they saw the paint on Tamlin. I didn’t want to consider what the punishment might have been."

Feyre herself at one point starts looking forward to seeing Rhys and going to the parties with him and drinking glamoured wine, because it is the only rest her tortured mind can get: "A permanent darkness settled over me, and I began to look forward to the moment when Rhysand gave me that goblet of faerie wine and I could lose myself for a few hours. I stopped contemplating Amarantha’s riddle—it was impossible. Especially for an illiterate, ignorant human. Thinking of Tamlin made everything worse."

All he is doing, whether good or bad, is to help her succeed. I am not saying his actions are to be excused, but they are definitely reasoned. He isn't an asshole for the sake of being an asshole. His way of helping Feyre was a messed up one, but it was the only way. He was doing bad things (while also keeping certain boundaries) to prevent a horrible thing, which would be Feyre mentally shattering.

Feyre herself is in a similar situation at the end of the book, the only way to free everyone from Amarantha was to finish the final trial, which was to kill three (actually two) faeries. Murder is obviously wrong and something that can't be excused (except for Amarantha she deserved it), but taking two lives to save thousands was the only reasonable thing to do, and that's why Feyre did it even though she was disgusted by the deed. The same thing happened with Rhys, it just wasn't as clear and simple.

"Regardless of his motives or his methods, Rhysand was keeping me alive. And had done so even before I set foot Under the Mountain."

It is definitely DARK, and definitely not something that could be applied to a real-life situation.

I hope it helped clear that up, I'm not saying you should like Rhys or the series, I personally do enjoy a more dark and complicated story and characters, I hope if you're not a fan that you have plenty of other books to enjoy :)

[vidalinav]

Y’all don’t know how much I want Nesta to get banned from the Summer Court. If nothing else but for their relationship to come full circle as to yes, Nesta and Cassian are meant for each other. But also because I just think it would be funny to see Nesta oddly excited about getting to tell Cassian while the others are like she’s all stoic and quiet, she must feel bad, but really Nesta’s just holding it in because she can’t wait to tell Cassian! And Cassian is just so filled with pride in that moment when she does. He’s like that’s my girl, now let’s go get banned from other places too.

[bookstantrash]

Idiots, your honour. Dumb & Dumber canon and I love them for that

[arinbelle]

I love my idiots so much. This is officially canon now

[heiressofthenightcourt-deactiva]

Antis stay mad 😌💕

[heiressofthenightcourt-deactiva]

Sellyn Drake wrote “The High Lord Who Loved Me” about Rhys which was a slight embellishment of the time Helion and he boned for a week straight when Rhys went to visit him in the Day Court.

When Rhys read it he spit his coffee across the table as soon as he realized who the author was by the very specific descriptions and play-by-play of the sex they had. He couldn’t stop laughing for weeks and even wrote a thank you note to Helion for the ‘flattering description of my best assets’

[bookofmirth]

Please designate what type of fruit each acotar character is and why. I’ll start: Eris is Durian cause he talks so much bullshit he probably has a stank ass breath.

As with most things on my blog today, I'm gonna thank @technotzar @evalinashryver @symphonyofbleedingshadows @exiledelain and @hellacioushag for helping with this but also blame Kara for sending it in the first place.

Feyre - Apple. Simple, nutritious, utilitarian, you can carry it around for when you need a healthy, supportive snack

Rhysand - Pomegranate. Dark, mysterious, take a bit of work to get inside

Nesta - Coconut. Hard on the outside, tasty and complex inside

Elain - Strawberries. Cute, smol, come from flowers

Cassian - Banana. Simple, long boi

Azriel - Pineapple. Pokes things. Alternatively a jackfruit. Because of jacking. Off.

Mor - Orange. Bright and fresh and full of Vitamin C

Amren - Tomato. Is she a fruit? Or a vegetable? Science says fruit but we are unsure.

Lucien - Peach. Lovely colors, bruises easily.

Helion - Passionfruit. Colorful, gooey inside.

Gwyn - Blueberry. Smol and cute and full of healthy antioxidants. My favorite fruit.

Tamlin - Grapefruit. Is he sweet or? TBD, we just can't over that bitter taste.

Emerie - Plum. Firm yet sweet.

Beron - Lemon. Only useful when squeezed.

Vassa - Raspberry. Only good to eat for a limited window of time. Pay attention or you'll miss it.

Jurian - Elderberry. How old is this human, anyway?

Nuala and Cerridwen - Cherry. Usually depicted as a pair.

Eris - according to @tealnymph24 Dragonfruit. Stylish but a little scary on the outside and you're not exactly sure how to approach him. But once you get past his intimidating exterior, he is delicious and sexy on the inside.

[azrielsbaby]

Just a clarification: Feyre didn't destroy the spring court. Tamlin did.

Feyre just laid out situations where Tamlin could either prove himself to be a good high lord or a bad one. obviously his incompetent ass chose to put his pride first instead of his people. Feyre never forced him to act the way he did.

When Feyre went to Lucien's room, everyone saw how possessive Tamlin was - to the point that he'd distrust his own right hand man and friend. Ianthe was the one to bring the naga to the estate and let an innocent sentry take lashings just to prove her authority and Tamlin played right into it. He chose to listen to Ianthe, to distrust his own people, to put his image as highlord first.

Feyre never made them act the way they did. Which makes her revenge even more better, she wasn't their destruction. They were. She made the world see the cold truth of Tamlin and Ianthe and let the spring court decide if they wanted a person like Tamlin (who was so easily swayed by a power hungry predator like Ianthe) as their ruler.

[unhealthyfanobsession]

Nesta Archeron would look into the Ouroboros to see her truest self and then scoff at it for being too nice.

[justagirlfangirling]

you ever read a fanfic and just sit back and think...someone wrote something THIS good... and then just....published it on the internet....for free.....

[seasaltcosmos]

we seriously need to bring back the concept of “despite its flaws i still enjoy it” instead of ‘cancelling’ every fuckin thing in sight 

[zoewashburne]

#we need to trust that just because someone loves a thing it doesn’t mean they don’t know it’s flawed

[cosmiagramma]

We also need to stop insisting that everyone enjoying flawed things must put 25 cents in the Problematic Jar and recite all its failings from memory.

[virtualcarrot]

If I just may add: we really need to stop pretending that “I’m a Good person, ergo the thing I like is PERFECT and if you criticize it you’re an ENEMY”. You can enjoy stuff AND keep your sense of critical thinking.

[gudetama-tamad]

[noctyras]

You know how Gwyn asked Azriel if he sings because they call him shadowsinger?

Well – I headcanon that after that interaction, Gwyn’s curiosity about shadowsingers peaks, and she starts reading every book in the Library that does as much as mention them.

Once she learns how the shadows can talk to them – to him, every morning she just straight-up go to Azriel and starts talking to them directly, asking questions as if she genuinely expects an answer (much like Nesta did with the House), and even going as far as to give them names.

The first time that this happens Az is left speechless. Not only by the comical situation itself, but by the fact that his shadows respond to her. They talk back, even if she can’t hear them. It’s something that has never happened in 500 years, and he just can’t help but be amazed, once again, by the young priestess that was able to conquer his darkness.

[azrielsgirl]

ALSO—

gwyn being unsatisfied by the amount of information on shadowsingers, so she asks azriel LOADS of questions about the shadows—for educational purposes, definitely not because she finds them adorable—and he is stunned at first, but answers every single one of them.

[simp-for-rhys]

I will revolt is SJM doesn’t make this cannon.

[bookienewbie]

After Brannagh and Dagdan killed the Children of the Blessed

Feyre: Do we burry them? Lucien: It sends a message—that we’re willing to clean up their messes. Feyre: Then we send another sort of message Lucien:

*sends the Bogge after them* Feyre and Lucien:

[notmewrongbitch]

I keep thinking I would love a crossover between TOG, ACOTAR and CC

But if they end up in Prythian or Terrasen. I just can't stop laughing at the fact that Bryce and Hunt are gonna SOOO annoyed at how delayed they are.

Hunt will be like "This fuckers don't even have a TV, I'm gonna miss the fucking game Bryce!"

And everyone would be like:

👁️👄👁️ What's a TV?

[simp-for-rhys]

This is one of the main things keeping me from believing a crossover will happen. I don’t think SJM will ever want the ACOTAR/TOG characters to be introduced to tech and such.

[azrielsbaby]

some of my favourite moments of acosf were when Cass couldn't help but talk about feyre and be so proud of her.

like when he was training nesta, he told her how "even feyre" struggled in the beginning - the word even implying that she's so skilled now people find it unbelievable that she was ever bad.

when feyre visited cass by the illyrian camps, he was thinking about how much feyre achieved within 21 years.

Cass saying "He didn’t know why he’d expected any less of her" after the whole amren,nesta and feyre fight.

and when nesta and cass went to the the sisters' village hut and cass was shook that the tale of feyre painting the night sky for herself was true and fondly told nesta of her drawings in the cabin.

He's so sweet and loving and just jdjdkdjdldkd I love him your honour 😭

[itstimeforstarwars]

My favorite dynamic in both platonic and romantic ships are “we share the braincell” or “they are both very smart until you put them together and then they’re dumbasses.”

[thefoundationproject]

"My braincell is allergic to yours" is peak dynamic.